The Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) said on the 29th that it will begin a labor inspection of the headquarters and the Incheon branch of the well-known bakery cafe "London Bagel Museum." At London Bagel Museum, allegations were raised in July that a worker in their 20s died from overwork due to long working hours.
The inspection will take the form of a planned inspection. If violations of the law are found through the planned inspection, the ministry will issue corrective orders, and if corrective measures are not taken within the deadline of two weeks or more, penalties will follow. This is a lower-level inspection than a special inspection, which imposes fines and refers cases for criminal investigation without corrective orders.
Through this inspection, the ministry plans to look into long working hours related to the deceased and check whether there has been any additional harm to all employees. It also plans to focus on other potential violations of labor relations laws, including the granting of leave and days off and wage arrears.
If the ministry later determines that there is a possibility of labor law violations across all branches, it plans to expand the inspection to the remaining five branches.
Minister Kim Young-hoon said, "It is heartbreaking that a worker in their 20s who dreamed of the future while working at a famous bagel cafe that boasted high annual sales lost a life," adding, "Through this inspection, we will thoroughly get to the bottom of the matter and respond strictly under a zero-tolerance principle if violations of the law are confirmed."
Earlier, it belatedly came to light that a worker in their 20s who worked here as a senior staff member died in July. The bereaved family claimed that the deceased worked close to 80 hours a week just before death and died from overwork. However, the company said the deceased worked an average of 44.1 hours per week during the employment period, similar to the average working hours of all employees (43.5 hours a week). The bereaved family also said they asked the company to apply for an industrial accident, but the company denied death from overwork and did not submit evidence to prove working hours.
As the controversy grew, London Bagel Museum said the previous day through its official social media (SNS) Instagram account, "We deeply reflect on and sincerely apologize for the hurt and disappointment the bereaved family must have suffered due to our inadequate response," adding, "The company did not fully grasp the response of the on-site operations executive in the early stages of the incident, and we again apologize for the irreparable harm caused to the bereaved family by the executive's inappropriate response."
London Bagel Museum, which opened its first store in Anguk-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, in Sep. 2021, is called the epicenter of the "bagel craze" and is famous as an "open-run hot spot" where long lines form even before opening. It currently operates seven stores nationwide. In July, it was sold to private equity fund (PEF) manager JKL Partners for about 200 billion won.